2 Samuel 14:26

Contextual Overview

²¹ And the king said to Joab, Look now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back. ²¹ So the king sent for Joab and told him, "All right, go and bring back the young man Absalom." ²¹ And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again. ²¹ The king said to Joab, "Look, I will do what I promised. Bring back the young man Absalom." ²¹ Then the king said to Joab, "All right! I will do this thing! Go and bring back the young man Absalom! ²¹ And the king said to Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again. ²¹ The king said to Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back. ²¹Then the king said to Joab, "Listen, I will most certainly do this thing; now go, bring back the young man Absalom." ²¹ Then the king said to Joab, "Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom." ²¹ And the kyng seide to Joab, Lo! Y am plesid, and Y haue do thi word; therfor go thou, and ayen clepe thou the child Absolon.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

when he polled: 2 Samuel 18:9, Isaiah 3:24, 1 Corinthians 11:14

two hundred shekels: If the shekel be allowed to mean the common shekel, the amount will be utterly incredible; for Josephus says that "two hundred shekels make five mine" and the mina, he says, "weighs two pounds and a half;" which calculation makes Absalom's hair weigh twelve pounds and a half! But it is probable that the king's shekel was that which Epiphanius and Hesychius say was the fourth part of an ounce, half a stater, or two drachmas: the whole amount, therefore, of the 200 shekels is about 50 ounces, which make 4 lb. 2 oz. troy weight, or 3 lb. 2 oz. avoirdupois. This need not be accounted incredible, especially as abundance of oil and ointment was used by the ancients in dressing their heads. Josephus informs us, that the Jews also put gold dust in their hair. Genesis 23:16, Leviticus 19:36, Ezekiel 45:9-14

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 9:2 - choice

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when he polled his head,.... Or cut off the hair of it; for that was one thing, a good head of hair which he had, that made him look very comely and beautiful:

for it was at every year's end that he polled [it]; or cut it off once a year; but the Jews say w he was a perpetual Nazarite:

because [the hair] was heavy upon him, and therefore he polled it; it grew so very thick and long in one year's time, that he was obliged to cut it; and what might add to the weight of it, its being oiled and powdered; and, as some say, with the dust of gold, to make it look yellow and glistering:

he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king's weight; and a shekel being the weight of half an ounce of avoirdupois weight, as Bishop Cumberland x has shown from various writers, the weight of his hair must be an hundred ounces; which was a very great weight indeed on his head. Some think that the price it was sold at, and not the weight of it, is meant; which they suppose was sold to women for ornament about their temples, and the money given either to the poor, or for the use of the sanctuary; and reckoning a shekel at two shillings and sixpence, as some do, the value of it came to twenty five pounds of our money; but the above mentioned writer y reduces it to about two shillings and four pence farthing; which makes the value somewhat less; but inasmuch as it is not so probable that a person of such rank should sell his hair, nor does it appear that any, such use was made of hair in those times as suggested; and this being said to be according to the king's weight or stone, by which all weights were to be regulated, it is best to understand this of the weight, and not of the price of his hair; which, according to Josephus z, was five pounds; but, according to the above account, it must be six pounds and a quarter. The Jews say a this weight was according to what the inhabitants of Tiberias and Zippore used, but do not tell us what it was.

w Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Nazir, c 1. sect. 2. Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 194. 3. Gloss. T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 2. x Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 103. y Ibid. p. 104. z Antiqu. l. 7. c. 8. sect. 5. a T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Two hundred shekels ... - The exact weight cannot be determined. If these “shekels after the king’s weight” were the same as “shekels of the sanctuary,” the weight would be about 6 lbs., which is incredible; “twenty” shekels is more probable.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 14:26. When he polled his head — Not at any particular period, but when the hair became too heavy for him. On this account of the extraordinary weight of Absalom's hair, see the observations at the end of this chapter. 2 Samuel 14:30.